Top White House advisers predict as many as 240,000 US deaths from coronavirus - live updates

Corrections & clarifications: A previous version of this article misidentified the Abbott test that is available to states as the ID NOW COVID-19 point-of-care tests, which will be shipped Wednesday. The tests available to states run on Abbott’s m2000 platform.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump had a hard time deciding Tuesday whether impeachment distracted him from fighting the coronavirus – but he eventually claimed it "probably" did.

"Well, I don't like to think it did – I think I handled it very well," Trump said. "But I guess it probably did ... I mean, I got impeached."

He added that, "I certainly devoted a little time to thinking about it."

Trump echoed the claims of supporters who blamed the administration's slow response to the coronavirus on the president's impeachment case.

The Senate impeachment trial – which began with the swearing-in of senators on Jan. 16 and ended with Trump's acquittal on Feb. 5 – "diverted the attention of the government," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaking Tuesday to radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.

Critics described the impeachment argument – one employed by many Trump supporters in recent weeks – as excuse mongering.

Trump, they noted, began taking questions about coronavirus in January and downplayed the threat until late February, well after the trial ended.

Joshua Geltzer, a former national security aide during the Obama administration, said impeachment previewed Trump's response, including his ignoring government experts and relying on private sources of information.

"Mitch McConnell just blamed Trump’s COVID-19 failures on impeachment," tweeted Geltzer, a visiting law professor at Georgetown University. "That’s wrong—dead wrong. In fact, the opposite is true: impeachment warned McConnell & other Americans about exactly how Trump would screw this up."

– David Jackson

Birx: States have half a million Abbott tests, but they're not being utilized

About 500,000 coronavirus tests released last month by Abbott Laboratories are available and not being utilized by states, according to Dr. Deborah Birx, who's leading the White House coronavirus task force.

"It is disappointing to me right now that we have about 500,000 capacity of Abbott tests that are not being utilized. So they are out, they're in states, they're not being run and not utilized," Birx told reporters at a White House daily briefing Tuesday.

The test, which the Illinois-based company began distributing March 18, is used on Abbott's m2000 RealTime system that is currently available in hospitals and molecular laboratories across the U.S. Birx said the task force is working to create awareness that these tests are available as hospitals have become reliant on the platforms available to them for COVID-19 over the last month

Abbott is set to release its new ID NOW COVID-19 point-of-care tests Wednesday. The new test can give positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in about 13 minutes.

Birx declined to provide any further details on whether hospitals are aware these tests are available to them or to which states they have been distributed. Her comments came after Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, contradicted President Donald Trump's claim that problems with coronavirus testing had been resolved. Hogan told NPR Tuesday that while the administration has taken some steps to create new tests, "they're not actually produced and distributed out to the states."

Trump has faced mounting pressure from states over the availability of tests as well as a shortage of medical supplies for health care workers treating coronavirus patients. Many Americans with symptoms of COVID-19 have found it difficult to be tested and those who have been tested have been told it will take more than a week to get results.

In recent days Trump has touted that the U.S. has conducted more tests than any other country, but he leaves out a key piece of context: While the U.S. has surpassed South Korea in terms of raw tests, it has administered far fewer tests per capita given that the U.S. is more than six times the size of South Korea.

– Courtney Subramanian

White House says the hottest coronavirus hot spots are in New York and New Jersey

WASHINGTON – In assessing the threat of the coronavirus nationwide President Donald Trump and his health aides showed models Tuesday indicating that two states have it worse than anybody: New York and New Jersey.

Citing the high number of cases in the greater New York City area, Trump said that New York and New Jersey "got off to a very late start" in trying to contain the coronavirus.

Trump has also been accused of getting a late start in fighting the coronavirus. Numerous governors, including Andrew Cuomo in New York, have said the federal government has been slow and disorganized in delivering necessary medical supplies.

Trump also offered sympathy to his former hometown, saying "We pray for the doctors and the nurses, for the paramedics and the truck drivers, and the police officers and the sanitation workers, and above all, the people fighting for their lives in New York and all across our land.”

Analysts said New York got hit hard in part because of heavy travel at the start of the new year between the Big Apple and Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus originated.

– David Jackson

White House advisers predict as many as 240,000 US coronavirus deaths

WASHINGTON – Members of President Donald Trump’s administration laid out dire estimates Tuesday to underscore the potential impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, a grim prediction they said was at the center of the president’s decision to extend strict social distancing guidelines through the end of April.

Federal public health officials said that between 100,000 and 240,000 could succumb to the virus by the end of the year – making it one of the nation’s worst public health crises – said Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator.

Without intervention, Birx said, as many 2.2 million could have died.

Presented to the president over the weekend, the data explains why Trump backed down from an earlier notion of “reopening” the country by Easter, or potentially opening parts of the nation that were less hard hit, officials said. Trump announced Sunday he would extend social distancing guidelines through April 30.

“Our country is in the midst of a great national trial,” Trump said Tuesday. “We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks.”

Trump’s top health officials, including Anthony Fauci, director of the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that models are not always accurate and will be influenced by how seriously Americans take orders to avoid contact with others.

Trump and others have said April could be a particularly deadly month in the ongoing battle with the virus. Johns Hopkins University tallied more than 181,000 confirmed cases as of midday Tuesday – more than any other nation -- and more than 3,600 deaths.

The president said on Sunday that he hoped the nation would be “well on our way to recovery” by June 1. The social distancing guidelines recommend Americans work from home and avoid groups larger than 10.

– John Fritze

Trump: Americans face 'very, very painful two weeks'

WASHINGTON – With the number of coronavirus deaths rising, President Donald Trump warned Americans on Tuesday to prepare for what he said would be difficult days ahead.

“We’re going to go through a very rough two weeks,” he said during a news conference with his coronavirus task force.

Trump’s remarks came as the number of coronavirus deaths surged past 3,200 on Tuesday, eclipsing the death total from the 9/11 terror attacks. More than 500 deaths were reported nationwide Monday, the highest daily total since the first American died six weeks ago.

Trump indicated the worst isn’t over, warning of a “very, very painful two weeks" ahead.

“As a nation, we face a difficult few weeks as we approach that really important day when we’re going to see things get better,” he said. “Our strength will be tested, and our endurance will be tried. This is the time for all Americans to come together and do our part.”

– Michael Collins

Pelosi says she, Congress are not responsible for slow response

WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama appeared to take a swipe at President Donald Trump's initial skepticism of the coronavirus pandemic, a rare rebuff for a president who tends not to weigh in on the work of other presidents.

"We've seen all too terribly the consequences of those who denied warnings of a pandemic," Obama tweeted Tuesday, without directly naming the president. "We can't afford any more consequences of climate denial. All of us, especially young people, have to demand better of our government at every level and vote this fall," he added, linking to an article announcing the rollback of environmental mileage standards put in place by Obama in 2012.

The Trump administration has faced sharp criticism for its handling of the U.S. outbreak, which has crippled the U.S. economy and claimed more than 3,100 lives as of Tuesday. Trump initially sought to downplay the pandemic and suggested opening up the economy by Easter, or April 12, as recently as last week. The president has since said strict social distancing guidelines will remain in place through April 30.

Obama, who has mostly used his Twitter account to praise workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic and promote advice from public health experts, seldom weighs in on Trump's record.

The 44th president's tweet also blasted Trump's decision to roll back an Obama-era rule designed to push automakers to produce more fuel efficient vehicles to limit pollution in the global fight against climate change. The new mileage standard is the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to reverse his predecessor's policies.

- Courtney Subramanian

Virginia GOP suggests politics at play in Northam's 'stay at home' order

The Republican Party of Virginia suggested Tuesday that Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam set his statewide "stay at home" order to expire on June 10 because the GOP primary is going to be held on June 9.

“In these challenging times, we want to give the Governor the freedom to make necessary decisions without partisan rancor, but the timeline seems all too convenient,” said party chairman Jack Wilson. “We ask that Governor Northam show us the data that led to his decision."

Wilson said while they were not implying Northam was "purposefully engaging in voter suppression," an "explanation would help to mitigate any concerns.”

On Monday, Northam ordered Virginia residents to stay home, except for certain activities like getting groceries or to get medical care, in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Virginia has 1,250 confirmed cases of the virus, which has killed at least 27 people in the state, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Virginia's Republican Party canceled its presidential primary this year, citing overwhelming support for President Donald Trump. But GOP voters still have to decide on who will try to unseat incumbent Sen. Mark Warner, as well as races for House members and local representatives.

- William Cummings

Cuomo: FEMA 'bigfooted' states, drove up ventilator prices

As New York continues its search for much-needed ventilators, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the Federal Emergency Management Agency “basically bigfooted” individual states and drove up prices, comparing buying ventilators to online auctions.

“It’s like being on eBay with 50 other states, bidding on a ventilator,” Cuomo said. “You see the bid go up cause California bid. Illinois bid. Florida bid. New York bid. California rebids. That’s literally what we’re doing. I mean, how inefficient. And then, FEMA gets involved and FEMA starts bidding. And now FEMA is bidding on top of the 50, so FEMA is driving up the price. What sense does this make?”

Cuomo then said he believes FEMA “should’ve been the purchasing agent” for medical equipment before becoming the sole distributor to states in need.

Cuomo released data indicating New York had more than 75,000 positive cases – including more than 9,000 new cases – with a death toll of 1,550, as of Tuesday morning.

- Lorenzo Reyes

Pompeo: no need to ease sanctions on Iran, other nations affected by coronavirus

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that he saw no need to ease tough U.S. sanctions on Iran or other nations that have been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has urged world leaders to back off such crippling economic penalties to ensure that people in those targeted countries have access to food, medicine and other vital supplies as they confront the pandemic.

“This is the time for solidarity not exclusion,” Guterres said last week.

Pompeo has overseen the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, implementing a series of escalating sanctions aimed at crippling Tehran’s economy and weakening its leaders.

Iran is reeling from the coronavirus outbreak, with more than 40,000 reported infections and nearly 3,000 reported deaths. Skeptics say those figures are misleadingly low, fearing a much more widespread crisis.

Pompeo noted that U.S. sanctions include exemptions for humanitarian goods, and he argued that Iran, Venezuela and other countries should be able to get anything they need to address the pandemic.

“The goods that are needed for each of these countries to resolve that coronavirus problem in their nations are not sanctioned,” Pompeo said during a State Department briefing Tuesday.

Pompeo said the Trump administration has offered humanitarian aid to Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela, among other sanctioned countries, but that assistance has been rejected.

“Some of these countries continue to build bombs and missiles and nuclear capability, all the while their people are starving,” he said.

- Deirdre Shesgreen

Pompeo: State Department official dies from coronavirus

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that a State Department official has died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“We've had a State Department official pass away as a result of this virus ... one of our team members,” Pompeo said during a briefing Tuesday. “We now have 3,000 Americans who have been killed. This is tragic.”

A State Department spokesperson later said two locally employed staff members at U.S. embassies in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kinshasa, Congo, have died from COVID-19.

“We offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families affected by this tragedy, and thank them for their loved ones' service to the United States,” said the spokesperson, who was not authorized to speak on the record because of State Department policy. “We do not at this time have any reports of COVID-19-related deaths of American staff within the Department of State's domestic and global workforce.”

The State Department’s 75,000-workforce – deployed in more than 200 locations across the globe – has been deeply affected by the pandemic. In January, the agency began evacuating diplomats from the U.S. consulate in Wuhan, China, the outbreak’s initial epicenter, and authorized departures have continued from other hotspots.

“Really there aren’t any posts that are immune to the spread of coronavirus,” Dr. William Walters, the agency’s deputy chief medical officer for operations, told reporters during a Monday briefing.

Walters said there are about 75 known cases among State Department employees working abroad and about 30 cases among the agency’s U.S.-based workforce.

- Deirdre Shesgreen

Rep. Max Rose to deploy for National Guard to help NY coronavirus response

Freshman Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y., will deploy Wednesday for the National Guard to help his state's coronavirus efforts.

He will deploy to Staten Island and serve as an operations officer. Rose, a Purple Heart recipient who served in Afghanistan, said he would be able to leave his post to vote on another coronavirus package if needed. Rose represents Staten Island, New York City's southernmost borough.

"My activation and deployment is nothing compared to what our city, state, and country has asked of all them. And it’s certainly nothing compared to the other men and women serving in uniform both here at home and overseas," Rose said. "I am just trying to do my duty and my small part.”

New York has become the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. and on Monday, a Navy hospital ship arrived in Manhattan's harbor to help treat the thousands who have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

- Christal Hayes

Pelosi says US needs to institute vote-by-mail

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Tuesday that the coronavirus outbreak will likely require the country to move toward voting by mail in upcoming elections.

Pelosi said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" she thought the $2 trillion CARES Act signed into law last week by President Donald Trump should have had more funding for the states to address "the reality of life that we are going to have to have more vote by mail." The final bill allocated $400 million toward helping states vote during the outbreak, while the Democratic version of the legislation included $4 billion for that purpose.

President Donald Trump criticized the effort to include funding for elections in the bill during a Fox News interview on Monday.

"The things they had in there were crazy. They had things – levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again," the president said on "Fox & Friends."

"I feel sad that the President doesn't have confidence in his own party," Pelosi said Tuesday. She said she did not think vote by mail would negatively affect Republicans' chances to the polls.

- William Cummings

McConnell: impeachment diverted attention away from coronavirus

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., added his name Tuesday to the list of people who blamed the slow response to the coronavirus on President Donald Trump's impeachment.

The Senate impeachment trial – which began with the swearing-in of senators on Jan. 16 and ended with Trump's acquittal on Feb. 5 – "diverted the attention of the government," McConnell told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.

Trump critics have described the impeachment argument – one employed by many Trump supporters in recent weeks – as an excuse.

Trump, they noted, began taking questions about coronavirus in January and downplayed the threat until late February, well after the trial ended.

Trump supporters like Sean Hannity have long claimed that impeachment diverted the government's attention from issues like the coronavirus.

Also on the Hewitt show Tuesday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said: "I have to tell you that in mid-January and late-January, unfortunately, Washington, especially the Congress, was consumed with another matter – you may recall the partisan impeachment of the President."

On Feb. 27, Trump said during a speech at the White House that the virus was "going to disappear. One day – it's like a miracle, it will disappear." He then said, "you know, it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We'll see what happens."

Three weeks before, the Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Trump of House impeachment charges that he abused power and obstructed a congressional investigation into his team's efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Democratic political opponent Joe Biden.

- David Jackson

GOP Maryland governor: Trump's testing claims 'not true'

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday on NPR's Morning Edition that President Donald Trump was incorrect in saying coronavirus testing problems had been resolved.

"Yeah, that's just not true. I mean I know that they've taken some steps to create new tests, but they're not actually produced and distributed out to the states." Hogan said, when host Rachel Martin asked him about Trump's assertions. "No state has enough testing."

In a coronavirus task force briefing yesterday, Trump said America's coronavirus testing was better "than any country in the world."

The Maryland Republican said he was listening to the "smart team" in the White House like Drs. Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci who were giving accurate information.

Hogan, who issued a statewide stay-at-home order on Monday, had a grim outlook for states' pandemic preparedness.

"There's nobody in America that's prepared," he said.

- Nicholas Wu

Pelosi: she and Congress do not take responsibility for slow coronavirus response

In a Tuesday morning interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she and Congress do not take responsibility for the country's slow response to the coronavirus at the beginning of the year.

"No, not at all," she said Tuesday on MSNBC in response to a question from co-host Willie Geist about whether she or Congress bore responsibility.

Instead, she said she was "proud" of the work Congress did, the "speed" with which coronavirus response bills passed, and the "bipartisanship that was the hallmark of it all."

"We can only go as fast as the signature," she said of the White House's support for legislation.

The House Speaker added that she was "sad" there was "no respect for science" from the White House in the beginning but President Donald Trump "will say and do what he does."

- Nicholas Wu

Pentagon watchdog to oversee $2 trillion in coronavirus relief funds

Glenn Fine, the inspector general for the Defense Department, was appointed to head the committee that will oversee the largest rescue package in U.S. history.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump last week, provides more than $2 trillion to help stave off the economic IMPACTS caused by the COVID-19 outbreak that has now killed more than 3,000 people in the U.S. and nearly 40,000 people worldwide.

The CARES Act calls for the establishment of a Pandemic Response Accountability Committee to oversee the distribution of the funds approved in the massive stimulus bill, as well as the two previous emergency spending bills that were passed to address the outbreak. Fine will head that nine-person committee composed of inspector generals from other departments.

"I look forward to working with my fellow Inspectors General on the Committee to provide effective, independent oversight of the funding provided by the pandemic legislation," Fine said in a statement on Monday. "Through our efforts, we will seek to promote transparency and ensure that funds are being used consistently with the law’s mandate to respond to this public health crises."

During the contentious debate ahead of the final bill's passage, the establishment of an oversight committee to prevent waste and abuse was insisted upon by congressional Democrats who were particularly concerned that the nearly $500 billion allocated to help large industries could become a corporate "slush fund."

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he was pleased with Fine's appointment.

"The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee is critical to holding President Trump and his administration accountable to the letter and spirit of the law," Schumer said in a statement. "Glenn Fine has a good reputation as a tough federal prosecutor and former DOJ Inspector General, and must exercise his full oversight authority to ensure that the Trump administration implements the CARES Act as intended."

- William Cummings

Trump clashes with CNN's Acosta

President Donald Trump's rocky relationship with the news media was on display again Monday, as he bristled at questions about his handling of the coronavirus outbreak during a White House news conference.

CNN's Jim Acosta – with whom Trump has clashed on several occasions, including a 2018 exchange that led to a failed White House effort to revoke Acosta's press credentials – asked the president, "What do you say to Americans who are upset with you over the way you downplayed this crisis over the last couple of months?"

Acosta proceeded to quote several of Trump's earlier comments in which he said the outbreak "was very much under control" and that "it will go away" like a "miracle."

"It will go away. And we're going to have a great victory," Trump told Acosta. He went on to defend the accuracy of the previous comments while simultaneously explaining he said them because, "I want to keep the country calm. I don't want panic in the country."

"I could cause panic much better than even you. I would make you look like a minor league player," Trump told Acosta. "Instead of asking a nasty, snarky question like that, you should ask a real question."

President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House on Monday.

Trump later turned his ire on PBS NewsHour's Yamiche Alcindor, whom he told the previous day to "be nice" and not ask "threatening questions" after she asked about his statement that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was requesting more ventilators than needed.

On Monday, Alcindor asked Trump why the U.S. trailed South Korea in per capita testing for the virus.

"I know South Korea better than anybody," Trump replied. "You know how many people are in Seoul? You know how big the city of Seoul is?" he asked, trying to explain that the difference was due to population density. Trump then claimed Seoul's population is 38 million when, according to the city's government, it is actually about 10 million.

"You should be saying, congratulations to the men and women who have done this job, who have inherited a broken testing system and who have made it great," Trump said to Alcindor. "And if you don’t say it, I’ll say it. I want to congratulate all of the people, you have done a fantastic job."